This letter pays tribute to a late pastor and community leader who was less concerned that people go to church simply to hear sermons, than he was that people know Christ. He challenged his congregation to “be the church by serving others generously.” It’s common in...

Jesus seemed to have no trouble with demons. Read through the four Gospels, and you will see how commonplace it was for Jesus to encounter and cast out demons. In the Gospels (NIV translation) there are 86 mentions of demons, counting also “impure spirits”—as they are...

After graduating high school in 1997, I planned to attend a four-year college and pursue a communication art and design degree. It just so happened that my mother’s cousin was the owner of a successful graphic design firm a few hours from us, and she arranged for me...

The humblest man… Who was the humblest person to ever live? If you’ve read Numbers 12:3, then you may recall that Moses was “more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth.” (And yes, I smile when I read that, because you know who wrote it? Moses!) Moses was...

It can be a nagging question: if we all have the same Holy Spirit in us, shouldn’t we have the exact same convictions on everything? If we are all reading the same Bible, and we all have been baptized into the same Spirit, then why don’t we agree about things more...

My dad is a career blood donor. I’ve lost count of the number of gallons of his blood he’s donated, one pint at a time, to help others in crisis. It costs him time, and each donation takes about a tenth of his blood out of his body. My dad needs his blood, but by...

People are often known primarily for what they have done. In fact, we tend to define who people are by what they have accomplished in life. Someone may be described as a pro football player, a scratch golfer, the CEO of a large company, a doctor, a pastor, a teacher,...

Recently I have been studying the story of Elijah, the Old Testament prophet. I often preorder English Bible study materials according to the mood of the day. I like the author of the material. Or… this looks like an interesting topic. Months later, when I actually...

On April 20, 2010, an explosion occurred on the Deepwater Horizon drilling platform in the Gulf of Mexico. The explosion, which killed eleven men, eventually resulted in five million gallons of oil leaking into the gulf waters. Carl-Henric Svanberg, the British...

Before entering the ministry, I was a salesman. I worked for a company that sold home décor to little “mom and pop” shops across the Midwest. We sold figurines, clocks, and Christmas ornaments. I continued in that job part-time while at Seminary. I would travel the...